E-mails show that people with clout are still contacting Rahm on his private account to talk about city matters

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is still receiving e-mails with ideas on city matters from "campaign contributors and others with clout" on his private account, according to the Sun-Times. The newspaper obtained Emanuel's private e-mails from January and February 2017 through a Freedom of Information Act request. The people who have been e-mailing the mayor include: "mayoral pal Peter Cunningham, JAM Productions honcho Jerry Mickelson, developer Robert Judelson and the mega-donor Abrams family, which owns Medline Industries." [Sun-Times]

More than 1,500 people call for end to gun violence during Englewood Peace Walk

More than 1,500 people led by Cardinal Blase Cupich walked through Englewood Friday to call for peace on the streets. Joined by community leaders including the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Father Michael Pfleger, the group stopped periodically to read the names of Chicagoans lost to gun violence in 2017 and prayed. "It lies within us to care about opportunities for people who grow up in an environment of hopelessness, to change that situation, but also to realize that the presence of so many guns is something that can't remain unchecked," Cupich said during the event. "We have to look for a way in which there's sensible gun policy." [DNAinfo Chicago]

Democrats picked up seats in traditional GOP areas during local elections

Democrats in Illinois are reinvigorated after they gained seats in traditionally GOP areas during recent municipal elections. Elgin Township elected only Democrats to its board, West Deerfield Township will be run entirely by Democrats, and an African-American Democrat will be mayor of Kankakee for the first time. "We won in areas we normally would win, but we also won in areas Republicans never expected us to be competitive in," Dan Kovats, executive director of the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen's Association, told the Huffington Post. "They were caught flat-footed." [Huffington Post]

Man files wrongful conviction lawsuit accusing authorities, including state police, of framing him

Jack McCullough was convicted in 2012 for the 1957 murder of seven-year-old Maria Ridulph in Sycamore, the oldest coldest case ever to be taken to trial in the U.S. His conviction was overturned in 2016 and a DeKalb County judge declared him innocent last week. McCullough has filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit accusing the Illinois State Police, the Sycamore Police Department, and the Seattle Police Department of fabricating evidence to frame him. The Ridulph case was one of the most publicized crimes of the 1950s, with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover asking for daily updates from the 60 FBI agents he sent to Sycamore. [DeKalb Daily Chronicle]

A New Zealand-based coffee chain is coming to Chicago

New Zealand-based coffee chain Mojo is opening its first U.S. coffee shop in the Loop in May, and plans to open more than 30 locations in the downtown area over the next five to ten years. "Chicago kind of leads the U.S. market when it comes to food, and there's fantastic coffee if you know where to look," Mojo founder Steve Gianoutsos told DNAinfo Chicago. "It's a fantastic market to be in." Gianoutsos has already opened has 35 Mojo locations in New Zealand, two in China, and six in Tokyo. [DNAinfo Chicago]